Don't let "tunnel vision" cripple the mission

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Marc Barnes
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan (AFPN) --  When the Air Force sent me to Southwest Asia last year, I began telling my 3-year-old son, Jonathan, he would need to be the man of the house while I was gone. I remember him swelling with pride when I would tell him he would be responsible to take care of his mom and two sisters and "take up the slack" while I was gone.

Shortly after I arrived in Southwest Asia, my wife told me Jonathan had been disobedient, and she'd asked him to stand in the corner. Jonathan, remembering my instructions from weeks before, paused with a puzzled look on his face, stuck his finger in the air and asked, "Does the man of the house have to do that?"

After my wife finished chuckling, she gave my son a quick reminder about his responsibilities as her son -- responsibilities he had briefly forgotten while working so hard on being the "man of the house." It was an innocent and humorous mistake, but it was similar to mistakes I believe many of us make in our offices every week.

Most of us probably have responsibilities at work we enjoy more than others, and it is easy to experience "tunnel vision syndrome" as we focus on what we enjoy and put off the responsibilities that don't appeal to us. It is in our nature to avoid things we don't like, but it can quickly become a problem in an office when several moving parts grind to a halt because of someone who only does half the job.

One of my earliest Air Force supervisors did me a favor and pointed out my weakness in this area. So when I offer the following tips, they are from my personal experience as a person infected with tunnel vision syndrome.

When you can, tackle the "undesirables" first. I hate broccoli. When a meal at our house includes broccoli, I usually eat it first and save my favorite part of the meal for last. If you have a responsibility you don't enjoy, try to get it done and then work on the things you like. Not many things are worse than knowing that "broccoli" is still sitting there, waiting for you to finish it.

Don't assume your "annoying" responsibilities aren't important. I used to be a file monitor, and I thought it was a huge waste of time, until my supervisor needed a file and couldn't find it because of my laziness. Many of us have additional duties that seem to be more of a pain than anything else, but we can't just blow them off. Most of the time, there is a very good reason for those duties, and some of us in "lower-level management" can't see or understand the big picture.

Finish the job. As a kid, I did fairly well in my junior-high woodworking class. I could make a mean birdhouse, but I was terrible at cleaning up the mess afterward. We are all pretty good at our jobs, but some of us are weak when it comes to "cleaning up afterward." Remember others will follow you and use the equipment you leave behind. Leave it functional, clean and where it should be.

Finally, if the "tunnel vision syndrome" I have described is your weakness, focus on preventative measures to keep it from getting out of hand. Don't wait for your leaders to chew you out about something that didn't get done before you begin to focus on responsibilities you don't enjoy. You can impress them or distress them, but I think the former is much more rewarding than the latter.

My son did a great job being the man of the house while I was gone, just like most of us do a great job taking on responsibilities we enjoy. But remember, it is a lot easier to be the man of the house when you don't have to stand in the corner. (Courtesy of Pacific Air Forces News Service)